Yuri I Vladimirovich Dolgoruky of Kiev (c1090-1157)
|contributors=Afil |titles=Prince of Rostov + Prince of Suzdal + Grand Prince of Kiev |birth_year=1090 |birth_date-approx=c |death_year=1157 |death_month=5 |death_day=15 |ifmarried-g1=true |wedding1_year=1108 |wedding1_month=1 |wedding1_day=12 |ifmarried-g2=true |remains_address=Church of the Saviour at Berestove |remains_locality=Kiev |remains_nation=Ukraine |globals= }} Yuri I Vladimirovich ( ), known under his soubriquet Yuri Dolgoruky ( , literally "Yuri the Long-Armed"; also known in various accounts as Gyurgi, Dyurgi, or George I of Rus), (c1090-15 May 1157) was a Rurikid prince and founder of the city of Moscow. He reigned as Veliki Knyaz (Grand Prince of Kiev) from September 1149 to April 1151 and then again from March 1155 to May 1157. Yuri played a key role in the transition of political power from Kiev to Suzdal following the death of his elder brother Mstislav the Great in 1132. Problems in identifying birthdate According to Vasily Tatishchev, Yuri was born in 1090 which would make him a son of Vladimir Monomakh's first wife Gytha of Wessex, a daughter of Harold Godwinson. However, according to the "Testament of Vladimir Monomakh" Yuri's mother died on May 7, 1107, while Gytha died on March 10 and probably in 1098. Thus, Yuri Vladimirovich could have been a son of his father's second wife Yefimiya and been born between 1095/97 and 1102. Although his birth date is uncertain, some chronicles report that Yuri's elder brother, Vyacheslav, said to him: "I am much older than you; I was already bearded when you were born." Since Vyacheslav was born in 1083, this pushes Yuri's birth to c. 1099/1100. The question of Yuri's birthday remains open. The date can be approximated to sometime in the 1090s. Activities in Rostov and Suzdal In 1108, Yuri was sent by his father to govern in his name the vast Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east of Kievan Rus'. In 1121, he quarreled with the boyars of Rostov and moved the capital of his principality from that city to Suzdal. Since then, the political role of Rostov has diminished noticeably. As the area was sparsely populated, Yuri constructed many fortresses there. He established the towns of Ksnyatin in 1134, Pereslavl-Zalessky and Yuryev-Polsky in 1152, and Dmitrov in 1154. The establishment of Tver, Kostroma, and Vologda is also popularly assigned to Yuri. In 1120, Yuri led the campaign of Russian troops against the Volga Bulgars. Polovtsians also participated in the campaign . Struggle for Kiev For all the interest he took in fortifying his Northern lands, Yuri still coveted the throne of Kiev. It is his active participation in the Southern affairs that earned him the epithet of Dolgorukiy, "the far-reaching". His elder brother Mstislav Vladimirovich died in 1132, and Yaropolk Vladimirovich, was entrhoned Grand Prince of Kiev. Yaropolk gave the Principality of Pereyaslavl to Vsevolod Mstislavich. Yuri instantaneously declared war on the princes of Chernigov, the reigning Grand Prince of Kiev Yaropolk Vladimirovich, enthroned his son in Novgorod, and occupied his father's hereditary principality at Pereyaslav of the South. The Novgorodians, however, betrayed him, and Yuri avenged by seizing their key eastern fortress, Torzhok. Then Yaropolk appointed Izyaslav Mstislavich as Prince of Pereyaslavl, but Yuri opposed this move. Then Izyaslav was expelled from Turov by Vyacheslav Vladimirovich, after which he left for Novgorod. There Izyaslav and his brother Vsevolod organized a campaign against the Principality of Rostov-Suzdal. In the Battle of the Zhdana Mountain (1135) both sides suffered significant losses, but neither part achieved a decisive success. In 1135 Pereyaslavl was given by Yaropolk to Yuri in exchange for the central part of his principality of Rostov and Suzdal. However, due to an alliance of the Mstislavichi and Olgovichi against Yaropolk led to the fact that Yuri returned to Rostov, Andrei Vladimirovich was transferred to Pereyaslavl, and Izyaslav Mstislavich ruled in Volhynia. After Yaropolk's death and the expulsion of Vyacheslav Vladimirovich from Kiev by Vsevolod Olgovich in 1139, Yuri's activity was reduced to an unsuccessful attempt to raise the Novgorodians in a campaign to the south. During the period of his first reign in Kiev(1149-1151) he left his son Vasilko in Suzdal; During the last Kiev reign (1155-1157) he kept the Rostov-Suzdal land for himself personally, planning to leave it after his death to his younger sons Mikhail and Vsevolod, and to establish the senior ones in the south. But soon his oldest son Andrei at that time returned from Vyshgorod to the north-east, and after the Yuri's death transferred the capital of the principality to Vladimir-on-Klyazma. In 1147, Yuri Dolgoruki had a meeting with Svyatoslav Olgovich in a place called Moscow. In 1156, Yuri fortified Moscow with wooden walls and a moat . Although the settlement probably existed earlier, Dolgoruki is often called "The Founder of Moscow". In 1147, Dolgorukiy resumed his struggle for Kiev and in 1149 he captured it, but in 1151 he was driven from the capital of Rus by his nephew Izyaslav Mstislavich. In 1155, Yuri regained Kiev once again. After presumably being poisoned at the feast of a Kievan nobleman, Yuri unexpectedly died in 1157 which sparked anti-Suzdalian uprising in Kiev. Yuri Dolgoruki was interred at the Church of the Saviour at Berestove, Kiev, but his tomb is empty. Marriages and children The Primary Chronicle records the first marriage of Yuri on 12 January 1108. His first wife was a daughter of Aepa Ocenevich , Khan of the Cumans. Her paternal grandfather was Osen. Her people belonged to the Cumans, a confederation of pastoralists and warriors of Turkic origin. Second wife : nothing is known about her, except that she died in 1183. Since the children from this marriage were taken away by their mother during her flight to Byzantium in 1161. N.M. Karamzin suggested a guess about the Greek origin of Dolgoruky’s second wife and that she belonged to the royal house of the Comneni . There are no documents to back up this connection IURII Vladimirovich . Judging by the chronicles, Mstislav and Vasilko were accepted favorably in Byzantium and received land ownership. In some sources, this princess is called "Olga." Karamzin and later researchers contradicted the assertion that her name was "Elena", Литвина А. Ф., Успенский Ф. Б. - Выбор имени у русских князей в X-XVI вв.} Yuri had at least fifteen children. The identities of the mothers are not known for certain *The following are considered elder children and usually attributed to the first wife. **Rostislav, Prince of Pereyaslavl (d. 6 April 1151). ** Ivan, Prince of Kursk (d. 24 February 1147). ** Olga (d. 1189). Married Yaroslav Osmomysl. ** Andrei of Bogolyubovo (c. 1111 – 28 June 1174). | ** Maria. Married Oleg Sviatoslavich, Prince of Novhorod-Siverskyi. ** Svyatoslav (d. 11 January 1174). ** Yaroslav (d. 12 April 1166). ** Gleb of Kiev (d. 1171). ** Boris, Prince of Belgorod and Turov (d. 12 May 1159). ** Mstislav, Prince of Novgorod (d. 1166). ** Vasilko, Prince of Suzdal (deposed in 1161). *The following are considered youngest and typically attributed to the second wife ** Yelena ** Mikhalko (d. 20 June 1176). ** Vsevolod (1154 – 12 April 1212). Memorials Muscovites have cherished Yuri's memory as the legendary founder of their city. His patron saint, Saint George appears on the coat of arms of Moscow slaying a dragon. In 1954, a monument to him designed by sculptor Sergei Orlov was erected on Moscow's Tverskaya Street, the city's principal avenue, in front of the Moscow municipality. Dolgoruki's image was stamped on the Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow", introduced in 1947. The nuclear submarine Yuri Dolgoruki is named after him. Notes Category:Princes of Rostov and Suzdal Category:Monomakhovichi family Category:Grand Princes of Kiev Category:Russian city founders Category:History of Moscow Category:Orthodox monarchs Category:12th-century rulers in Europe Category:Burials at the Church of the Saviour at Berestove